ABSTRACT
In October 1961 Turkey managed to return to democracy—the second transition in eleven years from an authoritarian system to a régime based on popular elections. The Officers’ Junta kept its promise and handed the control of the country over to the civilian authorities. But Turkey paid for the interference of the army in political life with a structural instability which will not be easily overcome. The Junta made the four parties taking part in the election promise not to criticize the Yassi Ada verdicts. Despite the many pressing problems facing the Turkish Government, the first year following the establishment of parliamentary democracy was almost exclusively spent in quarrelling about the fate of the former Democratic Party leaders who had been sentenced at the Yassi Ada trials. The parties mainly concerned to gain the electoral support of Menderes’ and Bayar’s former followers demanded, with varying insistence, that the condemned men be amnestied.
